Tag: Kings of Leon

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December 14, 2013 – John Goodman / Kings of Leon (S39 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
fake sign-language interpreter (KET) gets on Barack Obama’s (JAP) nerves

— SNL gets in their obligatory spoof of the clueless sign language interpreter at the then-recent Nelson Mandela memorial service.
— Kenan’s doing a decent job, but this feels like an inferior reprisal of the translator bit in the preceding season’s Hurricane Sandy Press Conference cold opening, which worked much better for me. SNL should’ve gone with a more original angle in this spoof of the Mandela translator.
— A good laugh from Kenan’s sign language for the word “thrilled” being him doing the Thriller dance.
— I like how there’s a growing story arc in Kate’s Angela Merkel appearances, with us finding out more and more about her crush on President Obama.
STARS: **½


MONOLOGUE
host & KET sing “All I Want For Christmas Is Booty”

— Boy, does it feel nice seeing John Goodman entering the home base stage again for the first time in 13 years. It’s also a novelty seeing him entering this particular home base stage for his first-ever time, which just goes to show you how long it’s been since he last hosted, given how extremely long this particular home base stage had been used by this point (and would continue to be used long afterwards, to this day in 2020). Hell, Goodman’s last hosting stint prior to this was so long ago that not even Kenan was in the cast yet back then.
— Goodman brings up the fact that he hosted SNL every year from 1989 to 2001. To nitpick, he didn’t host in 1991. And, if by “year”, he meant season, he didn’t host in season 26.
— Only two segments into tonight’s episode, and we’re already getting an early sign of how extremely dominant Kenan will be in tonight’s episode.
— Catchy song, but the lyrics themselves aren’t anything special, and this isn’t exactly the type of monologue I want to see Goodman doing for his big return after a long hiatus. This feels like a monologue they could do with almost any host.
STARS: **½


GUY FIERI’S FULL THROTTLE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
bad taste characterizes Guy Fieri’s (BOM) Christmas special

— For some bizarre reason, when the camera is on a close-up of Brooks (who looks unrecognizable in this) as Kid Rock showing us his Bud Lime Gazpacho drink, his line about the drink is completely muted out, even though the background music still plays as normal. What the hell?
— Hilarious occasional animation sequences of Bobby’s Guy Fieri punching various famous Christmas characters in the face.
— I have no familiarity with Big Ang, but Kate is hilarious as her here.
— I remember an online SNL fan back at this time in 2013 mistakenly thinking that the Duck Dynasty guys were played by four of the five new male featured players, as SNL’s way of doing a meta joke about how supposedly interchangeable the new male featured players are (I don’t agree with that latter part, for the record). Heh, that’s actually Kings of Leon playing the Duck Dynasty guys.
— Pretty funny seeing Bobby as all of the Pawn Stars guys.
— Throughout this commercial, in various groups shots of celebrities, you can see Noel as one of the celebrities, but she never gets a line, a close-up, nor does this commercial even bother to tell us who she’s playing. According to various people who saw the full version of this commercial one way or another, Noel’s playing Reba McEntire, who she would play again later this season in a Celebrity Family Feud sketch. In the shortened on-air version of this commercial that I’m currently reviewing, all of Noel’s main parts are completely cut. (*sigh*) Yet ANOTHER sign of how this season’s new featured players keep getting screwed over.
STARS: ***


DANCE OF THE SNOWFLAKES
snowflake-costumed (host), (VAB), (KET), (AIB) rue holiday pageant dance

— Goodman’s delivery of his first inner thought, “Oh, no. Is this…….DUMB???”, gave me a good laugh.
— I love Kenan’s first inner thought: “Hooollllyyy f(*bleep*)!”
— A nice out-of-the-ordinary structure to this sketch with almost all of the dialogue being pre-taped inner monologues.
— More good lines from Kenan throughout this, especially “My wife’s never gonna wanna see my penis again.”
— An unexpected and interesting happy ending with the characters suddenly convincing themselves to be proud of what they’re doing.
STARS: ***


THREE WISE GUYS
wise guys (host), (Sylvester Stallone), (Robert De Niro) go to see Jesus

— Ohho, no. NO. I recall this sketch being absolutely DREADFUL, and one of the nadirs of this season.
— I wish I could be more excited about a Sylvester Stallone cameo. The DeNiro cameo, on the other hand? Get him off my screen.
— Ugh, so many bad, hacky, and groanworthy wiseguy lines throughout this. Not even that camel toe one-liner of Stallone’s could elicit so much as a smirk from me.
— Making this already-painfully unfunny sketch even worse is the fact that it is SO damn sluggishly paced.
— Aaaaaaand there goes that obligatory halting, delayed delivery from DeNiro that you can always depend on whenever he appears on SNL. At one point here, he even squints hard when struggling to read the word “Frankincense” off the cue card.
— Overall, yep. This lived up (or down?) to my extremely negative memory of it. Pure oof.
STARS: *


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Temple”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Santa Claus (KET) makes an appearance to reveal that he is indeed black

Drunk Uncle & his Drunker Uncle (host) take issue with the holiday season

— Some good comments from Kenan all throughout his Santa commentary.
— Seth and Cecily’s jokes tonight are an okay improvement over their very blah jokes in the preceding episode’s Update.
— A big laugh from Drunk Uncle’s opening “I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas” bit.
— Drunk Uncle: “We got Black Friday now???? Barf! Wasn’t February enough?”
— Tonight’s Drunk Uncle commentary feels faster-paced than usual. He’s still a riot as usual.
— Nice inclusion of Goodman as “Drunker Uncle”.
— (*groan*) Freakin’ Seth and that damn habit he often has of loudly laughing off-camera during a guest commentator’s segment. His loud off-camera guffawing made it a little hard to hear the ending of Goodman’s funny opening line: “All I want for Christmas…is my two neighbors not to be Chinese anymore.”
— A sweet ending with even the harsh Drunk Uncle giving Seth a sincere goodbye hug because, as is acknowledged here, this is the final Update that Drunk Uncle and Seth are appearing in together before Seth’s soon-to-come departure. (Between Vanessa’s Jacob commentary in the preceding episode’s Update and now this Drunk Uncle commentary in tonight’s Update, SNL is kinda making Seth’s departure seem like it’s coming sooner than you’d think. We still have four episodes left of him after this.) Speaking of which, seeing Goodman’s Drunker Uncle also hug Seth during this acknowledgment of Seth’s departure makes me realize something: Goodman’s last hosting stint prior to this was all the way back in Seth’s fourth episode as a cast member (and an important night for him, as that was his breakout episode, after he quietly spent his first three episodes not standing out at all and being considered by SNL fans to be interchangeable with one of his fellow newbies, Jeff Richards), and now Goodman’s return as host just so happens to be one of Seth’s last episodes as a cast member, which means Goodman basically bookends Seth’s SNL tenure. Interesting coincidence. This also makes you realize just how extremely long Seth has been a cast member.
STARS: ***


TOO HOT
lawyer (CES) argues that (BEB) fired mannish (host) for being too sexy

— I love how Taran’s opening argument to the “Fired for being too hot” claim made about Goodman’s female character is just Taran saying “I meaaannnn…” while gesturing towards Goodman.
— Mixed feelings towards this concept, given how hacky “men in drag” humor can be in more recent decades, but Goodman seems like he can make this work, especially after we’ve gotten such a long break from seeing him host SNL.
— Goodman’s “Tee hee!”s are cracking me up, and it turns out he’s indeed making this material work. The supporting performers are also helping make this work, especially Taran, who’s a solid straight man here.
— Funny dance moves from Beck (who’s stuck in nothing but two non-speaking roles all night) at the end.
STARS: ***½


FIRE SAFETY
fireman’s (host) holiday safety message is flipped completely by Shallon

— Like last time, Nasim is very funny as this character.
— Yikes, Milhiser clearly missed a line at one point, as the camera cuts to a close shot of him when he’s supposed to say his second line in this sketch, only for him to just sit there blankly, unaware that it’s his turn to deliver the next line, leading to long awkward silence before an off-camera Goodman tries to keep the sketch moving by jumping ahead of the script a little and saying his own next line. Right as Goodman does this, Milhiser FINALLY starts saying his line, only to immediately cut himself off because Goodman is now speaking. I like Milhiser and generally feel really bad for how screwed-over he got in terms of airtime this season, but man, you’d figure he’d cherish the few lines he got in this sketch, given how little he gets to speak or do anything on SNL. I remember how, back at this time in 2013-2014, gaffes like the one Milhiser made here contributed to me feeling that most of this season’s newbies came off awfully green, and made me wonder if THAT was the reason why they barely got any airtime this season. In my re-watch of this season, I’m not finding the newbies to be all that green, minus Mike O’Brien and the gaffe that Milhiser made here.
— So far, this is just a variation of the first installment of this sketch from earlier this season, only with the kids’ van fascination being replaced with a fireplace fascination. This variation, while still providing a few laughs, isn’t working anywhere near as well for me as the first installment did.
— A good laugh from Aidy randomly saying, when the kids are proudly saying which dangerous fireplace-related location they’re going to hide in, “I’m gonna hide in a dry cleaning bag!”
— Goodman is quite stumbly with his lines throughout this sketch. Also, I’m not finding him to be as good a straight man as Edward Norton was in the first installment of this sketch. Goodman’s performance seemed especially off towards the end of the sketch right before Kate came back into the classroom.
STARS: **½


HALLMARK CHANNEL COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS
Hallmark Channel is chock-full of tedious holiday movies with minor stars

— A good laugh from the “Phylicia Rashad’s Christmas Nap” movie title.
— An overall quick, simple, and decent-enough piece.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Wait For Me”


THE CHRISTMAS WHISTLE
movie’s titular noise drives characters crazy

— Two-and-a-half minutes into this sketch, and the only thing I can think of to say in my review is that the whistle sound is pretty annoying. Yes, that’s the point, but that doesn’t automatically make it funny, which it certainly isn’t. And nothing else funny has been happening in this so far.
— Bobby’s off-camera yell of “What the hell is a Christmas whistle?!?!?” made me laugh, only because of his delivery.
— We at least get a decent bit regarding Kate’s mother, played by Aidy.
— Not even Taran’s walk-on at the end can save this, as much as I like the characterization he’s doing here.
STARS: *½


H&M
(JAP) & Wale [real] rap about H&M’s cheap, colorful, undersized clothes

— What the heck is that (admittedly catchy-sounding) lyric that Jay keeps singing at the beginning of his song? I can’t understand the last few words of it, despite how frequently he keeps singing that same lyric over and over: “You an H&M shoppin’ (something something something)”. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer my question.
— This is another segment tonight that I’m having a very hard time finding anything to say about. Aside from a few amusing cutaways of Kyle and Mike suavely looking into the camera while wearing stylish clothes, and the brief sequence with Goodman straining when putting on skinny jeans, I’m not even sure this music video is supposed to be funny or entertaining as an SNL piece. It’s become white noise to me after a while. For all I know, this could be a legit H&M commercial that just so happens to feature SNL cast members and John Goodman. It might as well be, because it sure ain’t working as a comedy piece.
— Overall, blah. I guess not all of this season’s music videos can be winners.
STARS: *½


LAST CALL
drunk & lonely (host) & Sheila Sovage settle for a sad make-out session

— Kenan’s extremely busy night concludes. He’s been all over this episode, far more than most of his fellow repertory players. I remember this really bothered a number of online SNL fans at the time (including me, though I’ve gained a much bigger appreciation for Kenan in these re-watches of mine), who were not pleased with SNL’s decision to make Kenan the cast’s new utility player this season in general.
— A very funny “66” bit from Kate.
— As usual in this recurring sketch, Kate’s delivery absolutely kills, and also as usual in this recurring sketch, we get some good gross-out humor here. But so far at this point of SNL’s run, there has yet to be a Last Call installment that comes close to measuring up to the great first one. I believe that eventually changes, as I recall some really strong installments with Woody Harrelson, Larry David, and Dave Chappelle, though my memories of what actually occurs in those installments are fuzzy. I’m pretty eager to revisit them.
— Sheila Sovage: “My heart and my genitals say ‘no’. But my hypoglycemia says ‘yes’.”
— Great whipped cream make-out session between Sovage and Goodman, both of whom are going all out.
— An absolutely hilarious and outrageous sequence with Goodman motor-boating Sovage as she makes cat orgasm noises. Tonight’s Last Call installment is getting funnier and funnier as it goes along. While it, for me personally, still doesn’t quite measure up to the first installment, it’s very close.
STARS: ****


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A mediocre episode. A lot of pretty forgettable stuff, some flat-out weak stuff, and one of the worst sketches in recent memory (Three Wise Guys). The only segment all night that I gave an above average rating to happens to be a sketch that didn’t air until the very end of the episode (Last Call). Hell, there was almost nothing in this episode that even got so much as a mere three-and-a-half-star rating from me. An overall letdown for John Goodman’s big hosting return. Not only that, but it doesn’t even lead to Goodman going back to hosting regularly or at least semi-regularly. After his return in this episode, he’s seemingly gone back to no longer hosting the show.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Last Call
Too Hot
Dance of the Snowflakes
Guy Fieri’s Full Throttle Christmas Special
Weekend Update
Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas
Monologue
Fire Safety
Presidential Address
H&M
The Christmas Whistle
Three Wise Guys


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Paul Rudd)
a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jimmy Fallon hosts the Christmas episode

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October 23, 2010 – Emma Stone / Kings of Leon (S36 E4)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

REID RALLY
at a rally, Harry Reid (PAB) distances himself from Barack Obama (FRA)

— Feels a little odd seeing Jay standing in the background right behind Fred’s President Obama, knowing the far-better Obama impression Jay had in his back pocket at the time and would later regularly do on the show starting in his third season.
— The timing during Fred and Paul’s discreet conversation with each other seems off, with too many long pauses between lines. Not sure if that’s Paul’s fault or not. He is noticeably staring at the cue cards during this portion of the sketch. Speaking of which, Paul’s cue card-staring habit in tonight’s episode in general was something that some online SNL fans unfairly tore Paul apart for at the time. I guess those fans didn’t consider the fact that it takes some new cast members a little while to get the hang of how to read off cue cards without making it look too noticeable. Bobby’s a perfect example, as he blatantly stared at the cue cards all throughout the Of Mice And Men sketch from his second episode (and, yes, some online SNL fans tore him apart for that), but it’s not like that went on to become a habit of his.
— Speaking of Paul, it’s surprising to see a new featured player like him co-starring in a cold opening, especially given how underused he was prior to this and hadn’t been given any lead roles until this point.
— The brief interjections that Fred’s Obama keeps making throughout Paul-as-Harry-Reid’s speech are doing very little for me. Unfortunately, that’s the only comedic conceit of most of this cold opening. Typical snooze-worthy political writing from Jim Downey’s later years.
— Wow, Paul even gets to say LFNY! In only his fourth episode as a featured player! I wonder if this is a record for the fastest that a featured player has ever said LFNY in SNL history. Abby comes close, as she said LFNY in her fifth episode as a featured player. [ADDENDUM: I just remembered that Eddie Murphy said LFNY in only his third episode as a credited featured player, so I guess he holds the record.]
STARS: *½


MONOLOGUE
audience nerds (KET), (BIH), (ANS) ask host if she’ll make out with them

— This monologue ALREADY seems to be going the same route as Natalie Portman’s season 31 monologue, with the female host taking questions from male nerds in the audience.
— Taran’s Michael Cera impression is very funny, and is almost singlehandedly saving this monologue for me. On the other hand, I don’t know what Bobby’s going for in his Jonah Hill impression, but it’s harmless enough.
— I’m tired of all the “I thank you for your time” lines from the audience nerds.
STARS: **


BABY SPANX
foundation garment hides chubby infants’ embarrassing fat

— Very funny delivery from spokesperson Jason of his first line to us upon his entrance: “Do you have a fat baby?”
— Blah, a commercial in the tradition of bland “babies wearing adult things” SNL commercials like Huggies Thong and Baby Toupees. A tired SNL trope.
— Overall, Jason’s great delivery was the only big thing this otherwise-bland commercial had going for it.
STARS: **


DREAM HOME EXTREME
contest winner’s (host) phlegmatism stymies Cheryl

— A very random and unnecessary reprisal of a one-off sketch from a Brian Williams-hosted episode THREE YEARS PRIOR. Why make this sketch recurring after such a long time?
— Kristen’s excited vocalizations and gestures amused me enough in the first installment of this sketch, but in tonight’s installment, they’re just plain ANNOYING to me. Absolutely grating.
— This sketch is following the exact same pattern as the first installment, and it worked far better with Brian Williams in the “unexcited winner” role.
— I’ve finally gotten a laugh, from Bill, Nasim, and Jay’s over-excited reactions in clips of past winners.
— Speaking of Bill, Nasim, and Jay’s parts, do you know what their character names are? Rudy Plank, Laverne Terms, and Syd Awnit. Yeesh, I see I don’t have to ask which writer penned this sketch.
— Even the ending is the same as the first installment, with the unexcited winner finally having an excited reaction when receiving an unrelated mundane gift from someone. Again, it was much funnier seeing Brian Williams do that.
— We’re four segments into tonight’s episode, and I haven’t cared for ANY of them so far.
STARS: *½


WXPD CHANNEL 9 NEWS
local news reporter’s (BIH) made-up stories scare teen’s (host) mom (KRW)

— When talking about the bad “Souping” trend, I love Bill’s line “Mmm-mmm dead”, spoofing the Campbell Soup slogan “Mmm-mmm good”.
— Oddly, Kristen’s acting seems forced in this sketch, and I could do without her over-the-top reactions, especially coming RIGHT AFTER a sketch where she just played an over-the-top character.
— A very funny escalation to all of the ridiculous teen fads covered in this sketch, especially the “Trampolining” fad.
— Very amusing delivery from Bill’s reporter character throughout this.
— Overall, finally, this episode had something I enjoyed.
STARS: ****


I BROKE MY ARM
(host)’s injuries move her classmates from envy to pity

— A good use of Emma, and she’s pulling off her character’s sudden slips on the floor humorously.
— Hilarious escalation to the gag, with Emma now entering in a wheelchair and a Stephen Hawking-esque computerized device she has to speak though.
— WTF at Andy taking over the short as a rapping jelly stain?!? Even for Lonely Island Digital Short standards, I’m finding this very questionable.
— And that rapping jelly stain bit is how this short ends??? Yeah, this ending did not work for me. Too bad, given how enjoyable this short was before then.
STARS: ***½


THE VIEW
panel considers bullies, Halloween, Lindsay Lohan (host)

— The final View sketch of this era. I will not miss these sketches’ presence. They got nothing on the original View sketches from the late 90s era. I have yet to see the newer View sketches from SNL’s present-day era, but I hope they’re better than these 2008-2010 View sketches.
— Kristen-as-Elisabeth-Hasselbeck’s dialogue is even more one-note than it usually is in these sketches.
— Fitting casting of Emma as Lindsay Lohan.
— Meh, as it turns out, they ended up not doing much with Emma’s Lohan in this overall sketch.
STARS: **


WRANGLER OPEN FLY JEANS
Wrangler Open Fly Jeans abet exhibitionists like Brett Favre (JAS)

— A pretty funny concept for a spoof of the Brett Favre sexting scandal.
— Great sleazy performance from Jason as Favre.
— Jason’s Brett Favre: “Look, I put my pants on just like anyone else: one leg at a time. Then…I pull muh penis out.”
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Radioactive”


WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM comments on Virginia Thomas’ exhumation of the Anita Hill controversy

New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan (KET) evinces innumeracy

John Mulaney [real] does stand-up with the theme of “I Love It”

Stefon’s nightclub suggestions for NYC tourists are not family-friendly

— Oof. The audience’s laughter during Seth’s Virginia Thomas/Anita Hill rant is VERY tepid. They are not into this.
— Wow, I had forgotten all about that “The Rent Is Too Damn High” guy. Kenan’s impression of him is good.
— Kenan’s lines and delivery are cracking me up, even though he’s just saying variations of what the real “The Rent Is Too Damn High” guy famously said in the viral video of him, and it’s hard to do a spoof of something that’s already comical enough on its own.
— I swear Seth (or maybe his former co-anchor Amy Poehler) already used that “fried chicken as bread” joke in a previous Update, but I can’t say for sure.
— John Mulaney in his second and final Update commentary during his tenure as an SNL writer.
— The “I Love It” motif to tonight’s Mulaney commentary is a good way to connect his various thoughts into one theme, and is very fitting for his distinct stand-up delivery.
— I love John’s comments about animals not knowing when they’re in a movie.
— Good ending to tonight’s Mulaney commentary, with him riffing on the style of Mad Men’s next-episode previews.
— Much like John’s previous Update commentary, he went through tonight’s commentary without Seth making any of the usual interjections he typically makes during guest commentaries on Update. I wish this was far more common. I don’t know when nor why it became a regular thing for Update anchors to always play a big part in a guest’s commentary, but it definitely started sometime in the 2000s.
— When this SNL era originally aired, I remember how I and several other online SNL fans took John Mulaney’s Update commentaries as a hopeful sign that this was SNL’s way of trying John out as a potential replacement for Seth as Update anchor. I and those aforementioned online fans were absolutely sick of Seth as Update anchor at that point (I’m finding him a lot more tolerable on re-watch, even if he’s still nothing particularly special), and we felt that John as an Update anchor would’ve been a refreshing and much-needed change from Seth. Fast-forward to today, 10 years later, when I’ve become more familiar with John and his comedic style, and it’s a little hard for me to imagine him as an Update anchor, and I’m now kinda thinking he might not have been as great in that role as we thought back in 2010.
— Our first Stefon appearance of the season. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only two Updates he’s appeared in by this point also happen to be Updates that Stefon writer John Mulaney did a commentary of his own in.
— Funniest bits in tonight’s Stefon commentary are the Cosby Face bit, a fat kid on a slip-and-slide being confused for Mick Jagger, and Furkels (a.k.a. Fat Urkels).
STARS: **½


LES JEUNES DE PARIS
in a bistro, “Ta Douleur” inspires youth dance-off

 

— This soon-to-be-recurring sketch makes its debut.
— After Paul has finally gotten his first SNL lead role earlier tonight, now it’s Taran’s turn. Taran’s been having a good night, between his Michael Cera impression and this.
— I absolutely LOVE the part where all the characters suddenly start dancing in unison to the bizarre portion of the French song that’s playing.
— Great gag with Taran imitating Emma’s bra removal by removing his own bra, which we then find out belongs to Abby.
— I love that the only cast members in this sketch’s main roles are newer players (Taran, Nasim, Abby, Paul, and Bobby, plus Vanessa in a brief walk-on).
— The combo of the odd French music being played and all the very funny actions happening during it is giving this sketch an epic, fun feel.
— Was that Jason as the older gentleman passing by with a cane who the main characters briefly stop dancing for? SNL Archives claims it is (link here), but I’m skeptical. It’s hard for me to tell if that’s really Jason, as we can only see his face from the side as he’s walking past the camera (screencap below).

If that is Jason, it’s very odd they would give a seven-season SNL veteran like him such a tiny, non-speaking role like that (though it did happen to him then-recently in the Bryan Cranston episode), especially in a sketch where the main roles are all played by new or new-ish cast members. Also, if that is Jason in this sketch, then it’s his ONLY live appearance all night. Aside from the Jane Lynch episode, Jason’s strangely been getting very little airtime this season, and it continues for quite a lot of the remainder of this season, IIRC. What’s the reason for this? Is he busy filming a movie this season? Horrible Bosses, perhaps?
— Such a strong and fun sketch overall.
STARS: ****½


MY BROTHER KNOWS EVERYTHING
annoyed (ANS) is little sister’s (NAP) hero

— Nice to see two consecutive sketches tonight starring a featured player(s).
— Nasim playing yet another child character, I see.
— In response to Emma saying Nasim’s brother is a hunk, Nasim says a well-delivered “Eww! Gross!….but yeah.”
— Emma’s comments about each of the “hot” posters from Andy’s room are pretty funny.
— Some decent in-show segments that Nasim and Emma’s characters do throughout this.
STARS: ***


“SEX” ED VINCENT’S SEX SYMPOSIUM
Ed Vincent’s (PAB) amateur lecture seminar opens minds

— Wow, the THIRD consecutive segment tonight starring a featured player. And it’s Paul’s SECOND lead role tonight.
— Right out of the gate, this already seems like a very promising character from Paul, and I love the format of this piece.
— Excellent performance and characterization from Paul. You can tell this is a character he had been doing before SNL.
— The “side of the penis/top of the penis” bit is particularly funny.
— I’m enjoying the “Tim & Eric”-esque vibe of this short.
— Great piece overall.
STARS: ****½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Pyro”


GOOGIE RENE’S PARTIALLY DAMAGED HALLOWEEN COSTUME DISCOUNT BASEMENT
Googie Rene’s Halloween costumes are cheap but marred

— Another instance tonight of SNL randomly bringing back a one-off sketch from two or more years prior.
— Paul continues to get lots of airtime tonight.
— A cheap laugh from the “Stank Basket” that’s displayed.
— Kenan’s offbeat portrayal of this Googie Rene character continues to amuse me, but I can definitely see why it would annoy some people.
— Good portion of this sketch with the examples of things you can hide the stain on your costume with.
— Abby’s extremely brief, non-speaking walk-on might as well have been played by an extra.
STARS: ***


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A rough and worrisome start with the first four segments of this episode, but things got better as the show went along, especially when they started letting the featured players take over the show in the first few post-Weekend Update segments, which backs up my viewpoint that this season’s four new hires are breathing some much-needed new life into the show.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Les Jeunes De Paris
“Sex” Ed Vincent’s Sex Symposium
WXPD Channel 9 News
Wrangler Open Fly Jeans
I Broke My Arm
My Brother Knows Everything
Weekend Update
Monologue
Baby Spanx
The View
Dream Home Extreme
Reid Rally


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jane Lynch)
about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Jon Hamm hosts for his third and, as of 2020, final time

Posted on

September 20, 2008 – James Franco / Kings of Leon (S34 E2)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

MCCAIN RECORDING SESSION
in a recording studio, John McCain (DAH) approves misleading attack ads

— Meh, some fairly hacky jokes early on regarding Darrell’s John McCain being out of touch with modern technology.
— Great use of Bill as a sarcastic announcer of attack ads.
— The ridiculous attack ads against Barack Obama are funny, especially the one comparing him to Charles Barkley.
— Some good bits with Kristen here, such as her explanation of the “tax benefits for pedophiles” claim that one attack ad made, and her knowingly responding “He won that election, right?” when Darrell’s McCain is about to negatively compare one of the anti-Obama attack ads to a ridiculous attack George W. Bush made on McCain during the 2000 presidential race.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Showing that he’s not yet used to saying newbie Bobby Moynihan’s name, Don Pardo mispronounces Bobby’s last name as “Monahan” tonight.
— Casey Wilson’s opening montage shot from all of the preceding live episodes she appeared in (first screencap below) has been replaced with a new shot tonight (second screencap below), which I believe remains her opening montage shot for the rest of her SNL tenure.

This new shot of Casey was actually previously used in a few NBC reruns of season 33 episodes (I was told that one of them was the reportedly heavily-edited rerun of the Ellen Page episode, a rerun of which I never saw myself), but tonight’s episode is the first time that shot has been used in a live episode.


MONOLOGUE
host has displaced Columbia University resident assistant (JAS) as BMOC

— Pretty fun use of Jason as a typical fratboy, and he fits this role well.
— Not much else to say about this monologue at all. Just average.
STARS: ***


THE COUGAR DEN
young musician (host) has a predilection for older women

— This sketch has officially become recurring.
— Wow, the audience’s laughter is VERY tepid early on in this sketch. They don’t seem like they’re into this at all.
— Special guest Cameron Diaz has officially become a staple of this recurring sketch.
— The aforementioned surprisingly quiet audience has started getting into this sketch after a while.
— Kenan gets another killer one-liner in this recurring sketch, with his “sexual peak/beauty trench” slam at Amy, Kristen, and Casey’s characters.
— Overall, I found this sketch okay, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the first installment. To be honest, I’m not sorry that we’re only going to be seeing one more appearance of this recurring sketch.
STARS: ***


AGENT 420
stoned spy Agent 420 (host) bungles mission to investigate a laser

— Funny fake-out with 007 apparently being summoned.
— James Franco playing a variation of his character in the then-recent movie Pineapple Express, right down to wearing a similar wig and headband.
— A solid James Bond-esque theme song performed by Kristen.
— Blah, a few minutes into this sketch, and it’s been doing almost nothing for me so far. Just a whole bunch of lazy, lame stoner humor. Too bad, as the initial set-up to this actually seemed promising. This SNL era seems to be very poor at pulling off stoner humor, between the preceding season’s America’s First Colonists sketch (starring James’ Pineapple Express co-star Seth Rogen) and this Agent 420 sketch.
— (*groan*) Here we have yet another display of Fred’s classic Asian stereotype routine.
— Very weak ending. SNL themselves seem to agree, as they would alter the ending in reruns, by having the laser explosion be shown BEFORE Kristen performs the ending theme song (not that that made it any funnier).
STARS: *½


SIMPSON JURY SELECTION
unbiased jurors are hard to find for O.J. Simpson (KET) robbery trial

— I love Fred’s delivery of “Yeah, but he’s O.J.!” when it’s pointed out that he should’ve had no knowledge of the O.J. Simpson murders, given the fact that he had been locked in a bomb shelter since 1968.
— Good premise, and I’m loving how the potential jurors who shouldn’t have any knowledge of O.J. Simpson for one reason or another end up revealing they do, in fact, know about O.J. and the murders. A fun progression to that conceit.
STARS: ****


HEY! (MURRAY HILL)
both (host) & (Blake Lively) have little ding-dongs

— A very lame comedic conceit with James constantly mentioning his “tiny ding-dong” among his general angsty whining.
— My only laugh in this short so far came from Kristen’s deadpan annoyed facial reaction (the fourth above screencap for this Digital Short) to one of the many times James randomly mentions his “tiny ding-dong”.
— A random Blake Lively cameo (who we’ll be seeing hosting SNL the following season) in a bad ending gag involving her speaking in a comically-deep man’s voice.
— Overall, a big ol’ flop. Easily one of my least favorite Lonely Island-made Digital Shorts to air up to this point.
STARS: *½


THE LOOKER
TV show stars Penny Marshall (FRA) as interrogation expert The Looker

— While I’m beyond sick of Fred dressing in drag by this point of his SNL tenure, his non-verbal Penny Marshall impression is spot-on and is amusing me.
— A technical gaffe at the end of James’ scene, causing his final line to accidentally get drowned out by the next line from the pre-taped announcer.
— I like the short scene with Jason easily giving in and confessing simply due to The Looker putting on even smaller glasses.
— Andy is actually pretty spot-on here in his facial resemblance to Juliette Lewis.
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Sex On Fire”


WEEKEND UPDATE
destitute Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld (JAS) missed out on bailout

creepy American Apparel CEO Dov Charney (FRA) sexually harasses SEM & AMP

— A bad return of Update’s former habit of having Amy open every Update with one of her lamest, most tepid jokes of the night, a habit that Update had thankfully been moving away from for a while.
— A good premise for this Jason Sudeikis commentary, related to the notorious 2008 financial crisis.
— Jason is great here, as he typically is whenever he does an Update commentary.
— Funny bit with a clip of Dora The Explorer being voiced by Amy as Rosie Perez, an impression of Amy’s that I always love. This is also the second consecutive episode where Weekend Update had a bit in which Seth and/or Amy do an off-camera voice of someone during a brief segment.
— A very Will Ferrell-esque role for Fred.
— I can definitely see people being annoyed and bothered by Fred’s sleazy sexual harassment commentary, especially in today’s Me Too age, but his performance is cracking me up in spite of myself. While Fred’s no Ferrell when it comes to playing this type of role and making it still come off harmless enough in today’s age, he’s still making it work for me.
— Okay, Fred’s commentary has lost me towards the end. I especially didn’t care for the boob-grab bit he did with Amy. Also, not that I want to bring this up, but I can’t help but now notice the unfortunate coincidence of this sexual harassment commentary appearing in an episode hosted by James Franco. (Then again, doesn’t Franco’s season 43 episode have an actual Me Too-based office sketch, not too long before he would get Me Too-ed in real life?)
— Amy milking the dog-themed Law & Order “bomp-bomp” sound effect is both amusing me and annoying me at the same time.
— Ugh, Amy’s iffy night continues, as she now resorts to the hacky habit of explaining the punchline of one’s own joke, always a comedy sin.
STARS: **½


THE NEW YORK TIMES
city slicker New York Times reporters are ill-suited for Alaska datelines

— Kristen’s first line was funny.
— This is actually a good use of Darrell’s typically low-energy performance style.
— Though it’s a very little thing, I love Jason’s cocky smiling and tie-straightening in the background when James is introducing him. Jason has the ability to make even something as little as THAT come off amusing.
— A noteworthy appearance from Kumail Nanjiani as an extra with a few lines (the sixth above screencap for this sketch). This is years before he became well-known. I can’t remember the reason for him appearing in this sketch. I know he guest-writes for SNL at some point towards the end of season 37, but I’m not sure if he guest-wrote for this episode.
— Very funny running bit regarding Will’s paranoia of getting attacked by a polar bear.
— I love Bill’s overconfidence in his incorrect answers.
— This rather long, full-cast sketch (I think the only non-Seth cast member missing from this is Amy, who’s barely appeared in anything tonight in general, presumably because of her pregnancy) has Jim Downey’s fingerprints all over it, but I’m enjoying this more than Downey’s typical long-winded, full-cast political cold openings. It also helps that we’re getting a lot of interesting different characterizations from each cast member in this.
— Hooooo, boy. If Fred’s sexual harassment commentary in this episode’s Weekend Update has aged poorly, then that goes double for Bobby’s comedic bit here about being in the middle of a sex change transition. This SNL era in general REALLY seems to be doubling down on transphobic humor ever since the last quarter of the preceding season.
— A good laugh from how, after learning there will be no Thai food, Andy and Kenan react by looking at each other and then storming off in unison.
— During the epilogue at the end, I love the part about what happened to Will’s character.
STARS: ***


OF MICE AND MEN
in lost Of Mice And Men ending, Lennie (BOM) wishes he had been leveled with

— As I explained in my review of the Of Mice And Men parody in the season 19 John Malkovich episode, Of Mice And Men is my personal favorite book of all time, and I’m always a sucker for SNL’s spoofs of it. The fact that this particular spoof is written by then-new SNL writer John Mulaney is the icing on the cake.
— I love the turn with Bobby’s Lennie realizing he was lied to by James’ George, and slowly becoming wise to lots of things.
— I remember some online SNL fans back at this time complaining about how blatantly Bobby was staring at the cue cards all throughout this sketch (those complaints probably came from some of the many people who unfairly wrote Bobby off as a dud after the poorly-received Mark Payne sketch he starred in in his very first episode), but he deserves some slack cut for that, as he’s only in his second episode, and understandably has yet to master how to read off of cue cards without making it blatant. As we know now, Bobby wouldn’t become a notorious cue card-starer during his SNL tenure.
— An overall very funny and clever sketch. Only two episodes in, and Mulaney hits a SECOND home run. Bobby also continues to show a lot of promise in his second episode as well, and this sketch is closer than the preceding episode’s Mark Payne sketch was to representing the type of work Bobby will typically do on SNL.
STARS: ****


YANKEE STADIUM STORIES
Martin Scorsese (FRA) & Rosie Perez (AMP) say bye

— A variation of the New York City Stories three-part runner from the season 32 Jaime Pressly episode, in which Fred and Amy played a different pair of celebrities in each part. One of the celebrity pairs they played in that runner was Martin Scorsese and Rosie Perez, who they’re also portraying in tonight’s Yankee Stadium Stories piece.
— This was actually cut from the preceding season’s finale. (You can tell even by just watching this that it must’ve been filmed at a much earlier time, given the fact that Amy’s belly is much less pregnant-looking.) Kinda odd, though, how SNL is airing this in the same episode in which Amy already does her Rosie Perez impression, in the Dora The Explorer bit on Weekend Update.
— A good laugh from the little scene with Fred and Amy’s Scorsese and Perez playing a game of baseball using a loaf of bread and a meatball.
— Fred’s Scorsese impression is coming off even funnier here than it did in the aforementioned New York City Stories piece.
— Overall, short and sweet.
— Much like the New York City Stories pieces, this Yankee Stadium Stories piece was originally supposed to be a three-part runner with Fred and Amy playing a different pair of celebrities in each part, but the other two parts don’t air. I think I recall one of them had Fred playing Gene Simmons, but that’s all I can remember from the details I read of it years ago.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Use Somebody”


DAFOE’S REVENGE
in host’s dressing room, Willem Dafoe (BIH) wants him to kill ANS

— Nice to see the underused Casey Wilson getting to do a scene as herself at the beginning of this, even if it’s just a small bit.
— I absolutely LOVE this concept, and it’s a very fun and creative use of a Willem Dafoe impression from Bill. Bill has been having a very strong night, by the way, which is so refreshing to see after how invisible he was in the preceding week’s season premiere, not to mention how constantly underused he was in his prior seasons.
— A very funny reason for Bill’s Dafoe wanting Andy Samberg dead.
— I love Bill’s delivery of “James, I played your father in a movie. YOU. OWE. ME.”
— Andy’s ridiculous Willem Dafoe “impression” feels like a nice throwback to/variation of the ridiculous celebrity “impressions” he did in his and Bill’s Impression-Off segment on Weekend Update from their very first episode.
— Funny bit with James incorrectly assuming a mirror is between him and Bill’s Dafoe when he throws a coffee mug towards Bill’s Dafoe.
— Great ending.
— Overall, an underrated Bill Hader sketch. This is one of my personal favorite things he’s ever done on SNL.
STARS: ****½


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— An average episode. A few duds in the first half of the show, but the solid run of segments in the last 20 minutes of the show balanced it out.


MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Michael Phelps)
a slight step up


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW
Anna Faris